Recruitment

Internal recruitment sources include employees, former applicants and former employees, and they may be invited to apply through intranet postings, staff records, promotion lists, word of mouth, email and other methods. Employee referrals are popular, when accompanied by an employee bonus, and useful for bringing in staff with the right ‘cultural fit’.

External recruitment involves filling job vacancies with people from outside the business

General skills are important because many jobs today require individuals to work independently and undertake many different tasks. General skills, therefore, are not as narrowly defined as in the past and they are generally more service oriented, making social and information skills increasingly important.

Many businesses are recruiting overseas or using outsourcing and overseas recruitment to overcome skill gaps in their businesses, particularly through skilled migration programs such as the Temporary Skill Shortage visa (formerly 457 visa). While the need for chefs, skilled tradespersons, building professionals and engineers is well known, there is a significant shortage developing in more highly skilled and professional areas including specialist project management skills.

Industry sources have been critical of Australian firms for not investing in training their staff for developing workforce needs and changing organisational structures. They believe a greater part of the load needs to be shouldered by the very companies complaining about not having enough skilled workers. Employee poaching is frequently used.